Experiments concerning the laser-enhanced reaction between vibrationally excited O3 and NO

The enhancement in reaction rate between O3 and NO is studied for the case of O3 vibrationally excited by a CO2 laser. Chemiluminescence observations of a vibrationally excited and an electronically excited nitrogen dioxide reaction product provide information on the separate contributions to the overall reaction rate of these two reactive channels. The contribution of the stretching and bending modes of O3 to the reaction rate enhancement is also discussed. In addition, consideration is given to the nonreactive vibrational deactivation of vibrationally excited O3.